


Touch

by DarthLivion (DistantShenanigans)



Series: Touch Starved verse [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Between Seasons/Series, Gen, Hints at Future OT3, Other, Post Season 2, Touch-Starved, Unrequited Crush, mentions of Kanera, touch-starved clones
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-14
Updated: 2017-09-14
Packaged: 2018-12-29 17:40:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12090057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DistantShenanigans/pseuds/DarthLivion
Summary: Rex hasn't been touched in a long time. The others finally find out.





	Touch

In the years since he parted from Ahsoka and fled for his life, Rex didn't really indulge himself in much. The most he'd done was gone to a bar and drink, before Wolffe and Gregor found him and roped him into retiring with them, about five years before. Not once had he let himself get close to anyone. And, yeah, he wasn't _touch-starved_ , not since Wolffe and Gregor realized he forced himself to do that to himself (after their childhood, most clones _refused_ to do that to themselves again), but he still never let himself have other acts of intimacy.

And, yeah, he loved Wolffe and Gregor, but he'd never take their offers of sex, even if the two hadn't been together. He'd never admit it to anyone before, but he'd never actually had that before. Call him a hopeless romantic, but he wanted his first time to be with someone that truly mattered to him.

He hated that, after too long with the Rebellion, that Kanan was that someone. He wouldn't ever act on it, or say anything. They were busy, too busy, and besides, Kanan and Hera were, at the very least, dating. It was clear from that, especially after Hera admitted to Ahsoka that, yeah, they _were_ a thing. And Rex would never get in the way of that.

He did, though, miss the touching. Wolffe and Gregor never joined him, and he hated that he was slowly becoming touch-starved again to the point where Zeb slapped him on the back and he tensed.

It's not until Sabine asked him what was wrong, that he finally gave up and told her, and the others, while they walked through the cave.

“Touch-starved?” Sabine asked, confused.

“ _Karabast_!” Zeb growled, “Why didn't you say anything before?” Rex merely shrugged.

“I've learned that unless I'm with another clone, nobody really understands it. There's no point in saying anything. I'm just a _clone_.”

“Bullfucks!” Hera argued.

“Hera, no, he's right.” Kanan said, “ _We_ don't see it that way, but a lot of the others... I've heard how they talk about him behind his back. We _all_ have.”

“And we've all yelled at them to knock it off!” Hera said, “They know better!”

“Just because they stop saying it around you doesn't mean they've stopped saying it, or thinking it.” Rex told the young Twi'lek. “I've known this since I was deployed for the first time, Hera. Nobody cares about the clones except other clones, and maybe – _maybe_ – a handful of others. You can't tell us repeatedly that we're sentient beings, when ninety percent of the galaxy views us as nothing but cannon-fodder.” It was silent, before Hera shook her head.

“I don't see that. I was on Ryloth... I was on Ryloth when Obi Wan Kenobi and the 212th battalion came and helped liberate my people from the separatists. Two of clone troopers found my best friend and brought her back to us, after _comforting her_. If you were just cannon-fodder, you wouldn't have feelings. You wouldn't care that you're touch-starved, you wouldn't _crave_ the touch of someone else. _You are not just a clone_.” Hera said, furious. Rex remained silent, for a moment.

“You know how Twi'leks are often hypersexualized? How you've beaten people up for making jokes about being a sex slave?” Rex asked.

“Tch, I'd murder the lot if we didn't need them.” She admitted.

“It's a _lot_ like that.” Rex's voice was quiet when he said it, and she looked at him, hurt. She understood, then, why it was so hard. Sometimes, even when one _knows_ they're more than what people view them as, on the worst days, you don't feel like they're wrong.

They settle down for the night, still exploring the area, and instead of laying on his own like he usually did, it was Kanan who pulled him between him and Hera. He was hugged, with Hera as close to him as possible, while Kanan forced him to lay his head on the Jedi's chest.

He hated that he clung to both of them the entire night.

 

**Author's Note:**

>  ~~uhhhhh.......... I regret nothing???~~ Comments are v nice ~~, and feel free to hit me up on tumblr, username's aerefyr~~


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